Why the Resurrection of Jesus Matters

1 Corinthians 15:12-28

Val Grieve’s your verdict on the empty tomb

We have been soaring over the significance of the life, the death, and now the resurrection of Jesus. We have beheld some breathtaking truth for our lives, but we must remember that there are many more truths about the significance of Jesus and all that He has done that we have not had time to meditate on over these three weeks. The life, death, and resurrection of Christ have infinite significance for us, and part of the joy the Christian life is discovering and loving more of who Christ is for us. As we have done the past two weeks, I want to walk through 6 points of significance that the resurrection has for us, and I pray that God will enflame in us a passion for Christ and His resurrection as we look at them. I pray that He will come now and change hearts and build up His people and convict the wayward sinner and save the unbelieving here among us.

He was raised for your resurrection from the dead

If He was not raised from the dead, then we have no hope

Some were saying that He did not actually physically rise from the grace but spiritually rose to live in our hearts.

I just listened to an Easter sermon by a prominent preacher just yesterday who said the same thing.

1 Corinthians 15:14-18- And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If He was not raised from the dead our gospel would be a deceiving lie

He is risen in bodily form and therefore we who believe will be raised

His resurrection from the dead is inseparably linked with ours

He was raised for your new perfected body

The old is passing away and the new is coming

1 Corinthians 15:40-44- There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

We will not be disembodied spirits floating around, but people with perfect bodies that have no pain or decay or death

He was raised for destruction and victory

There is no rival to God

He was raised in accordance with who He is and what He has said

If He was not raised, then He would not be God

Isaiah 46:9-10- remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

He claims victory over sin and death

1 Corinthians 15:53-57- For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He will destroy all of His enemies

1 Corinthians 15:24-26- Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

He was raised for your perseverance

Saved here is a passive verb

“If” means you ARE being saved now unless in the future you stop holding fast

Then you are revealed to have never been included here

1 Corinthians 15:1-2- Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

He was raised that you might do Spirit-empowered work

The grace of Christ ought to compel us to work hard for Him

1 Corinthians 15:6-11- Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

We can work hard for Christ’s sake with confidence

1 Corinthians 15:58- Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

He lived, died, and was raised for His glory

He will be forever glorified as King

Philippians 2:9-11- Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He will be forever glorified as the perfect Lamb who was slain

Revelation 5:12-13- saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

There is no one more glorious, no one more mighty, and there is none more worthy of praise. Christ our Savior has risen from the grave and we will give Him glory forever and ever and ever.

We have been soaring over the significance of the life and the death of Jesus. We have seen a birdseye view of some of the truths surrounding the significance of each part of His work. Now this morning we look to the significance of His resurrection. We have beheld some breathtaking truth for our lives, but it is important that we remember that there are many more truths about the significance of Jesus and all that He has done that we have not had time to meditate on over these three weeks. The life, death, and resurrection of Christ have infinite significance for us, and part of the joy the Christian life is discovering and loving more of who Christ is for us, and we will continue to do so for endless days. As we have done the past two weeks, I want to walk through 6 points of significance that the resurrection has for us.

One: He was raised for our resurrection from the dead.

You have probably heard it before or maybe have said it to someone. Most of you have at least thought it. When you think of an atheist or agnostic and say to them “what do you have to lose? The worst that could happen is that the Bible isn’t true and then you will be back to where you started anyway.” But is this really what the Bible teaches? No. The Bible actually teaches the exact opposite of this. Let’s look to 1 Corinthians 15:14-18 to see what Paul says about this: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” Our lives hang on the resurrection because if Christ was not raised then there would be no hope for us. We would be left in our sin and there would be only wrath left. Not only this, but we who have faith in Jesus would be the most pitiable of all people. Why? Because the call of Christ is to bear the reproach of the world, put the desires of our flesh to death, live sacrificially, and fight the fight of faith. This is the call to take up our cross and follow Him, and it is to be pitied if there is no resurrection after we die. We will sacrifice our worldly pleasures for nothing.

But Jesus did rise from the dead, and we are not the most of all people to be pitied. We are those who have true hope and lasting joy. We have a Savior who died for our sin and then rose from the grace in order that we might also be resurrected in newness of life when we die. Our resurrection is not disconnected from the resurrection of Jesus; they are inseparably linked. He rose again in order that you might be resurrected to live with Him forever one day.

Two: He was raised for your new perfected body

Jesus’ resurrection also makes our new heavenly bodies a reality. He is our forerunner. Our old mortal bodies are passing away and we will put on imperishable bodies. What has been subjected to disorder, decay and death will be raised in complete perfection. Paul articulates this in 1 Corinthians 15:40-44: “There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” Many people believe that we will be disembodied spirits just floating around, but we see that this is not so. We will have new resurrection bodies that are perfect just as Jesus took on a new resurrection body. He rose from the grave in order that we too might gain our heavenly bodies.

Three: He was raised for destruction and victory.

He was raised for the destruction of every one of His enemies and for the victory over sin and death. God is God, and there is no other. There is no rival to Him and no match to His power. He foretold the resurrection of Jesus in Psalm 16:10, and Jesus predicted His resurrection as well. This means that He either is God and does what He has said or He doesn’t and proves that He is not God. Isaiah 46:9-10 says, “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ And oh did He accomplish His purpose!He rose from the grave in power and defeated all of His enemies. Sin and death were crushed under the overcoming power of the glorious Savior. He is God, He is able, and He has risen! 1 Corinthians 15:24-26 says that He will destroy every power and authority that is against Him, and this destruction begins at the resurrection.

Not only did He destroy every enemy, but He also claimed victory over sin and death. Listen to what Paul says here in 1 Corinthians 15:53-57- For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice, Christian! You can look death in the face and declare that it has no victory and it has no sting. You can fight sin and Satan as defeated enemies because Christ has won the victory for ever!

Four: He was raised for your perseverance

What do I mean by this? Well, we certainly love the biblical truth that all who are saved will persevere in faith until they die. But how was that made possible? It is only by the power of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us that we persevere. But if He were not raised from the dead and ascended into Heaven, then we would not have the Spirit dwelling in us. He rose on the 3rd day so that, when he ascended in Heaven, we might be given the Holy Spirit. If this did not happen, then we would have no hope of perseverance. At the beginning of this chapter (1 Corinthians 15), verses 1-2 say “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” Notice the distinctive language that he uses. “You are being saved” is not active language. It is present-tense passive language. Right here, right now, you are being saved, but only if you hold fast to your faith in Christ in the future. This means that the proof that you are being saved right now is that you hold fast until the end. Jude 24 says that Christ is able to keep us from falling and will present us blameless before the presence of His glory. He will hold His children fast in faith in Him, and if He had not risen from the dead, then we would not have the hope of this work in us.

Five: He was raised that you might do Spirit-empowered work

The Christian life is not a ride down the lazy river. It is coming to faith and then kicking your feet back as you wait for heaven. The faithful Christian life is hard work and til for the sake of Christ’s glory. We esteem the Apostle Paul as one of the greatest Apostles and one of the most significant figures in Church History, not becasue he was a comfort-seeker who took it easy the rest of his life, but because he gave himself and spent himself for the cause of Christ. Listen to what he says about His call by Christ and the life that followed in verses 6-11: “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” He considered himself the least of the Apostles, but that did not keep him from toiling hard for Christ. The call of Jesus thrust him into a life of work to such a degree that he could, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, say that he worked harder than any of the other Apostles. This is amazing. He encountered the risen Christ and everything changed. He suddenly desired to give his life to the cause of Jesus.

So how are you doing? Are you a comfort-seeker who has been drifting in your Christian life, or have you be obedient to the commission of Christ to go and make disciples for His name’s sake? He lives today and reigns in power as Lord and Savior. You can look at the empty grave and know that the same Jesus who used to lay there is living and able to empower you to work hard for the glory of His name just like verse 58 says: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Six: He lived, died, and was raised for His glory

The glory of God is the ultimate end of all that He has made and all that He does. All that He has done in all of history has been for His glory and all of it has climaxed in the person and work of Jesus. He lived for the glory of God, He died for the glory of God, He rose from the dead for the glory of God, and He reigns supreme forever for the glory of God. Listen to what Philippians 2:9-11 says about the result of the work of Christ on the cross: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” He has been exalted and has been given the name above every name. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess, and it is all for the glory of God! He reigns on the throne of Heaven as the King of kings and Lord of lords! Believe and trust Him. He has died for your sin if you will simply humble yourself, believe that He is the sufficient sacrifice for your sin, and throw yourself upon His forgiving grace. Every knee will bow before Him, and all who believe will bow before Him as beloved, redeemed, and forgiven children of God.

Not only will He be glorified as the King of all Creation, but He will be glorified as the perfect Lamb who was slain for the sins of His people. Revelation 5:12-13 says, “saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” There is no one more glorious, no one more mighty, and there is none more worthy of praise. Christ, our Savior, has risen from the grave, and we will give Him glory forever and ever and ever.